Full name: Carlos Slim Helu
Born: 28, January 1940
Birthplace: Mexico City, Mexico
Net worth: $76.6 billion USD (2022) Forbes
Spouse: Soumaya Domit
Residence: Mexico City
Nationality: Mexican
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Religion: Maronite Christian
Source of Wealth: Telecom
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 6
Carlos Slim Helu is a Mexican entrepreneur, business magnate, and philanthropist. He developed various kinds of companies including telecommunications, retail banking, insurance, technology, and auto parts manufacturing businesses. He is one of the richest people in the world according to Forbes Magazine (2022) with a net worth of $76.6 billion. He is the current chairman and CEO of Telmex and Movil.
Early Life:
Carlos Slim Helu was born on 28 January 1940 in Mexico City to Julian Slim Haddad and Linda Helu. His parents were of Maronite Christian and of Lebanese descent. His father, born Yusef Slim Haddad, immigrated to Mexico in 1902 at the age of 14 and changed his first name to Julian. It was common for Lebanese children to be sent abroad before the age of 15 to avoid being conscripted into the Ottoman army, at the time of his arrival four of Haddad’s older brothers were already living in Mexico.
His mother Linda Helu’s parents also immigrated to Mexico in the late 19th century. Julián Slim and Linda Helú married In August 1926 and they had six children Nour, Alma, Julián, José, Carlos, and Linda. Carlos was the 5th of 6children and he studied Civil Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Personal Life:
Carlos married Soumaya Domit in 1967 and Domit bore six children- Carlos, Marco Antonio, Patrick, Soumaya, Vanessa, and Johanna. Currently, he is single since his wife’s death in 1999.
Business Career:
Carlos Slim started his operation with the purchase of shares in a Mexican bank at the age of 12. Carlos started his business mission with his own brokerage firm that later extended to invest in individual businesses. In his early career, he focused on construction, real estate, and the mining business.
In 1976, he started a printing business then he expanded his trade-in industry, construction, mining, retail, food, and tobacco. In 1982 the Mexican economy fell down to less oil export and at the time of recovery, Carlos invested heavily in the Mexican economy and eventually got a large profit. He added the Nacrobre group of companies as well as the Grupo Carso between 1986 and 1990
Later in 1990, he bought a landline telephone company Telmex from the Mexican government which company operated 90 percent of the telephone lines in Mexico in 2006. However, Carlos increased phone call costs soon after purchasing the company but he enhanced phone services in Mexico with the company offering mobile phone services, Internet services, a telephone directory as well as local and long-distance calls.
Grupo Carso was expanded into three companies- Carso Global Telecom, Grupo Carso, and Invercorporación. In 1999 Slim wanted to expand his business beyond Latin America eventually he set up Telmex in the USA and América Móvil was incorporated with him in 2000. He also invested in the Volaris airline in 2005.
Carlos is the owner of the largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the world even though he has poor knowledge of computers and telecommunication. He was correctly thinking that the internet and technology are the major growth area in his business. Slim is also the owner of the major computer retailer CompUSA, with more than 200 retail stores all over the USA and Puerto Rico.
Forbes magazine ranked him as the 4th richest person in the world in 2005 with a net worth of $23.8 billion dollars, 3rd in 2006 with a net worth of $30 billion, and Forbes named Slim as the world’s second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates on 5 March 2008. Forbes finally showed that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world’s richest man, with a net worth of $53.5 billion on 10 March 2010. When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett had a net worth of $53 billion and $47 billion respectively.